Crumbling Hearts
by ode.to.divorce
Summary: Follow Regulus Black and Kaylyn Oyer as they finish out their 7th year of Hogwarts. Read and review for s'more.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

She watched him through lowered lashes as her hand moved across the smudged paper. He leaned his shoulders against the rough surface of the tree and stared out across the lake's glassy surface. She tried desperately to draw his lips perfectly. The way his bottom lip puckered out and the corners curled in a small constant smile, as if he were laughing at the world.

She frowned at the gaggle of girls making their way towards him. He pretended not to notice as they sat a few feet from him, but she knew different. He always knew what was going on around him. She wouldn't have been surprised if he knew that at that very moment she was examining him like a bug.

There was just something about him that entrapped her. He was always so cold and distant. He walked around Hogwarts' never really talking to anyone, but always watching. He could quiet the toughest Slytherin with a mere flick of his eyes and in the next instant melt the heart of the most straight-laced girl. Each of his strides silently demanded respect while his thick brows arched arrogantly over steel gray eyes.

He intrigued her in every way. From the graceful way he walked to the occasional flash of white teeth that he passed as a smile. She liked the deep rumble of his voice when he answered a question and the way he tugged at his ear when he was uncomfortable. But she knew that he'd built a wall around his heart.

She'd watched a few girls try and make it over that wall to no avail. She often wondered if he himself pushed them off any time that got to close. So she decided that she would do the impossible. But instead of climbing over the wall he'd constructed, she would tear it a part. She would rip at each stone until they were nothing but ruble at her feet.

They weren't beat. Not physically at least. Hell, compared to Sirius he was treated like a god. They were taught to be men. From as far back he can remember his father had been drilling that into their heads. He even set up rules for them to follow. Regulus even remembered his very first lesson…

_"What are you crying about, boy?" his father growled, picking him up by the collar of his shirt. _

Staring wide-eyed up at his father's angry face he pointed at the dead dog. His father laughed roughly and kicked the motionless dog a few times.

"Stop it!" he shouted hitting his father in the leg with his small fists.

Roaring his father grabbed Regulus by the hair and tipped his head up to look into his father's angry black eyes. "Rule number one, no crying. Ever."

He had only been five then, and hadn't cried since. He taught himself at a young age not to show any expression, and keep everything locked inside. His father liked it too much when he knew that he had gotten to them. Sirius never did learn to keep his emotions under control. He was too temperamental and proud.

Regulus was happy when Sirius had finally moved out. Not that he disliked his brother, but things were just quieter this way. For once he didn't have to listen to him and his parents constant bickering.

Ignoring the girls that were inching their way towards him, he pushed off the tree and walked towards the castle. He smirked smugly when he felt her eyes on him. The girl didn't know whom she was dealing with. He had fewer feelings than a corpse. What would make her watch him so intently? He's never said more then a handful of words to her in his life.

She was pretty enough. He would give her that. But, she was too innocent for him with her soulful eyes, bright smile, and her hair to dark a brown. Monsters like him ate girls like her for breakfast.

He walked across the grounds and into the castle. Taking a few flights of stairs he made it to the dungeon. The Slytherin common room grew quiet as he entered the room. Sighing, he sat on a plush armchair next to the fire that a first year had given up for him. He sensed before he heard Luke Underwood standing behind him.

"Where've you been?" he asked, sitting in the chair opposite Regulus.

Regulus shrugged, "Walking around the grounds."

Luke nodded at his best mate and examined the fire thoughtfully.

"Is there something that you wish to ask me?" he asked, sensing his friend's nervousness.

"I was wondering if you've thought about the proposition we'd been offered?"

"I haven't thought about it much."

"I have. I think I'm going to join the Dark Lord."

Regulus sat silently and watched the various expressions move across his friend's face. "I think the whole thing is a bit shady. All he's done is kill a few muggles and mudbloods. What should make him different from the rest of the dark wizards out there?"

"I don't know, but if the things he plans to do come true, it would seem the wiser to join his side."

Stroking his chin thoughtfully he thought on Luke's words. He had spent the last seventeen years of his life bending to his father's will. Why in Merlin's name should he join forces under some power hungry maniac? He would think long and hard on this.


	2. Chapter 2

****

Regulus watched from the back of the room as she pulled her hair back messily before tipping over the cauldron to check the boiling water. Unable to suppress his growing grin he dipped his head and also looked into his own potion. When he once again looked up he nearly laughed at the sickened expression on her face. He didn't blame her. The potions smelled like dung.

Shaking thoughts of her from his mind, he set to skinning the three rats he had been given. A gentle clearing of the throat caught his attention and he looked up into the sea green eyes of his mystery girl.

The instant she met his eyes met hers, all reason fled her. She smiled at the flicker of shock that crossed his face. It was the first real expression she'd ever seen from him.

"Hi, I'm Kaylyn Oyer," she said, offering her hand.

He looked down at her small offering and an odd sensation crept up his spine. A distant part of his brain screamed trouble. It told him that if he took her hand that there would be no turning back. While somewhere in the region of his chest told him to take her hand, and risk the fall.

"Regulus Black," he replied smoothly, taking her hand in his own calloused one.

Heat seemed to shoot up his arm and he nearly through her hand away from him. But the once burning flames turned into a soothing warm liquid making him feel almost light headed. Steeling himself from further foreign feelings, he released her and took a step back.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked coldly.

"I was just wondering if I could borrow some of your rat skins. I had been looking at the wrong page and shredded the fur instead," she said looking down at her hand oddly.

"Why don't you ask Slughorn for more rats?"

"Why should I when you obviously have extra?"

"Why not ask anyone else in this room?"

She searched his face for signs of humor only to find seriousness, so she replied with a shrug, "I wanted to ask you."

She stood her ground, as his eyes seemed to burn holes through her. They stood that way for a while before he finally picked up the bloody skins and handed them to her without a word. She backed away slowly not able to break the hold he had over her until finally she ran into something squishy.

"What are you doing all the way back here, Kaylyn?" Slughorn asked, double shin jiggling

"I was just leaving Professor," she choked before scrambling back to her table.

Regulus walked slowly towards the lake. He realized that he did a lot of walking. He didn't run nor skip. Never strolled nor sauntered. He just simply walked.

Looking down, he watched as his legs stretched out and carried him to his destination. His legs were the most capable things about him. His tongue could never turn his thoughts into words, his mind had too many twists and turns, his hands too clumsy, and he had no heart. But his legs… they were always there.

Brushing the hair from his forehead he turned his face into the wind. If he closed his eyes and imagined, it almost sounded like the ocean. He thought of the cold crispness of the breeze and the deep green water that splintered over a rocky shore.

The deep green color reminded him of something else. Someone else. Kaylyn. The way she had looked up at him with those sea green eyes as if he actually gave a damn.

Well she was wrong. He didn't care about anything or anyone. Not his mother, father, or brother. And he sure as hell didn't care about her. What ever she's thinking about doing was never going to happen. He'd make damn sure of that.

Picking up a rock from the gravely bank, he threw it out across the lake and watched as it broke the glassy surface. He had a strong feeling he would be breaking a lot more things in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Two**

"Kaylyn Oyer!"

Snapping her attention back from the window, Kaylyn looked at her best mate Macy Louis.

"I'm sorry, Macy. What were you saying?" she asked searching her friend's cornflower blue eyes.

"What is with you?" she huffed throwing her quill on the table. "You need to focus on writing that essay. My passing Divination depends on this grade."

"Then you do it," Kaylyn growled pushing the stack of papers towards her friend.

"Who is he and what has he done to you?" Her friend asked, running a hand through her strawberry blond hair.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered burying her face into a book.

"Love, please I've seen that look to many times in the mirror staring back at me to be fooled. Now, tell me what's going on. You know I'll get it out of you sooner or later."

Kaylyn knew she was right. Macy knew everything. If you looked up nosey in the dictionary the name Macy Louis will be there. She wasn't a real pushy person, but she had a way of drawing secrets and gossip out of people. Kaylyn was surprised that Macy didn't drool from all the juicy secrets she had locked away in her brain. Not that it bothered Kaylyn any. By being her best friend she knew almost as much as Macy did.

"Let me ask you a question first," Kaylyn suggested.

Leaning back in her chair, Macy propped her feet up on the table and smiled, "Okay, I'm ready."

"What do you know about Regulus Black?"

"Sirius Black's little brother?" At Kaylyn's nod she shrugged, "Not much. He's broken a few hearts, but he's always kept his head down. I think he's afraid of me."

"What do you think about him?"

"He's definitely good looking. I'll give you that. But Merlin, Kay, he's not for you. He's like a robot walking around the grounds all the time, and never talking."

"He talks," Kaylyn defended.

"So you're stuck on this boy?" Macy dropped her feet, and looked hard at her friend.

"I'm not stuck on anyone. I just—I've been watching him and I think he'd be a pretty nice guy once you get to know him."

"Regulus Black, a nice guy? Bloody sakes Oyer, he's a Slytherin and to top it off a Black."

"Sirius was always nice to us," Kaylyn pointed out.

"That's because Sirius is way different than his family. Plus, he wanted in my pants. Regulus on the other hand…"

"You don't even know him!" Kaylyn muttered.

Macy's soft blue eyes widened slightly before she leaned back in her chair. Not meeting her friend's glare she whispered, "If I know you Kaylyn Oyer, you're not going to give up on whatever it is you're trying to do no matter what I say. I'm just afraid you'll end up with your feelings hurt or worse, a broken heart."

****

Raven locks flying behind her, she sprinted towards the quditch pitch. It was almost dawn and she wanted to paint the sun coming up over the Forbidden Forest. She skidded to a stop before taking a few breaths and headed up the stairs. Walking up to the top bleacher, she set up her canvas and paints. She knew that she would probably miss breakfast, but it seemed worth it to finally be able to do this.

Taking out a brush she mixed the colors and got to painting. Completely zoned Kaylyn never heard the footsteps behind her. She dragged the brush over the canvas leaving no detail left out. Already photo memorizing the colors of the sunrise she continued to paint even after the once glorious colors had faded. Once she was done, she rubbed at her throbbing eyes, and stepped down a bleacher to get a better view of her painting.

"Pretty good, Oyer."

Jumping, Kaylyn whipped around to see Regulus. She placed a hand over her erratic heart and stared dumbly at him.

"What don't you believe it's good?" he asked, offering a small smile.

"I—well I guess so. I suppose I thought it would turn out a bit better then it did," she stuttered in response, turning back to examine the painting.

Regulus searched her face for a few seconds before he murmured, "Are you always so hard on yourself?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I'm no art critic, but I know a good painting when I see one. And this, this is a good painting," he said sitting down on a bleacher. He stretched his legs out in front of him and propped himself up with his elbows. The sun sat just over Kaylyn's shoulders so he had to squint to look up at her.

She didn't know what she should do. Ever since her talk with Macy she'd been a bit leery of getting to know Regulus anymore than necessary. But seeing him here now was almost like a punch in the gut.

"Why are you here?" she said watching him closely.

Regulus looked away and shrugged. He didn't even know why he was there. He had been sitting at his usual tree when he had seen her take off out of the castle. At first he had thought there was something wrong with her, but when he finally caught up he realized what she was doing. He had watched her paint and it almost seemed like the brush was a part of her. He'd never seen anyone so absorbed in anything as she had been.

"I thought you would like some company," he said after a moment's silence.

Kaylyn sat down next to his feet and smiled softly. He tried to push away the warmth flowing through him, but he couldn't. Their eyes locked and held. Neither looked away and they sat like that for a long moment.

She finally dropped her gaze and instead began to pluck at his shoestrings. He controlled the smile teasing at his lips as he watched her paint splattered fingers fiddle with his laces. The sun danced across her pert nose showing off a sprinkle of golden freckles. The play of her fingers over his sneakers seemed to tear at something inside of him. He wanted to run.

"I should leave," he said abruptly.

"Oh," she sighed. An odd sense of loneliness stole over him as her slim fingers slipped to the bleacher.

He stood quickly almost losing balance. He knew she expected him to say or do something, and that scared him. Taking the bleachers one at a time, he waited for her to stop him, but it never came. As he reached the bottom he looked back up at her. She was putting away her paints. She didn't even acknowledge him and he knew she knew he was watching her.

His walls rose once again as he walked slowly away.

**  
**

Kaylyn tapped her fingers incessantly against the arm of a chair. It had been two weeks since Regulus had visited her at the quiditch pitch. He was avoiding her. Whenever she spotted him, he quickly disappeared before she could reach him. It was becoming tedious.

"Would you stop that?" Macy growled. She sat at a table not far away, working on her star chart.

"Sorry," Kaylyn grumbled. She stood and walked over towards her friend. Peeking over the girls shoulder, she looked at the sheet of paper.

Macy's quill came to a stop, but she didn't look up. "You're breathing on me."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Now go away. I need to finish this by tonight."

Stepping away, Kaylyn sat in the chair opposite her friend, "I finished my chart."

"Good for you," Macy snapped, glaring at her friend over her reading glasses.

"If you didn't always wait until the last minute to do your homework, we could be outside having a snowball fight."

"I'm not waiting until the last minute. I still have two hours before class starts. If you want to go outside, then go. Please," she added the last on a whisper.

Kaylyn stood with a huff, "I can see that I'm not wanted here."

"Took you long enough to figure that one out. I'm sorry, was it when I said 'Go away,' that you got confused?"

Kaylyn grabbed her scarf, twisted it around her neck, stuck at her tongue, and exited the common room.

Regulas sat between three large pine trees to hide himself from the rest of the world. The cold ground beneath him made his bottom numb, but he simply ignored it. He had been restless the past couple of days. He couldn't get the damned girl off his mind.

She was always there; playing with his shoestrings, staring up at him through those dark lashes, and smiling warmly. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had smiled at him quite like that.

He remembered as a child he would sit in his room dreaming about warm hugs and soft kisses on the nose. Sometimes his brother would pat him affectionately on the back, but that's all there'd been.

Regulas wondered what it would be like to hug Kaylyn. She would wrap her arms around his waist and bury her nose in his shirt. He would place his chin atop her head and run his fingers down her spine. He imagined it to be very warm and maybe a bit suffocating.

Regulas laughed bitterly at his thoughts. He was seventeen years old and thinking about hugs. If his friends had any idea that this had even crossed his mind for a second, they would probably beat him. All he should think about is her underneath him which wasn't a particularly unpleasant thought.

"You prats," a shrill voice screamed out, followed by laughter. "Do it again and see what happens!" There was a thud, then another angry shrill.

Regulas rolled to his stomach to peek beneath the pines. He spotted a group of Slytherin boys pelting Kaylyn with snowballs. He laughed softly as she scrambled behind a boulder and threw pitiful excuses of snowballs at the boys; every one of them falling a few feet short.

Just as the boys were about to go in for the kill, Regulas stepped out and froze them with a look. He didn't say a word as he shooed them away with a flick of his hand.

The boys dropped their snowballs with a huff and stomped away. He turned to Kaylyn, but was blinded by a snowball. Sputtering indignantly, he wiped the snow from his eyes. Kaylyn stood a few feet away her hand over her mouth in horror. He took a few steps towards her only to see that she wasn't horrified, but was holding back laughter.

"So this is how you thank me?" He growled.

Kaylyn took a step backwards at the devious look in his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't help my—"

Her words were cut short by a snowball. Throwing back his head, Regulas let out a loud laugh. When he looked back at Kaylyn, she was staring rather oddly at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked a smile still in place.

She shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know. I just don't think I've ever heard you laugh before."

"Well you have now," he said gruffly, turning away.

"Where are you going?"

Without looking back at her he said, "Back to the Castle."

"Why?"

He needed to get away from her.

"I have class."

"Okay. I'll see you around?" she asked hopefully.

He started to walk back up to towards the castle. He could almost feel the disappointment radiate off her. "See you around," he shouted over his shoulder.

The smile she gave him haunted him the rest of the night.


End file.
